


love it if we made it

by sadgeminimoon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Humor, James Potter is the mum friend, Multi, Recreational Drug Use, Remus Lupin is So Done, Sirius Black is a Little Shit, Smoking, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:15:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29241189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadgeminimoon/pseuds/sadgeminimoon
Summary: “Potter, I’m telling you, if he’s not on that stage when we start, he’s out,” Remus said, as both James and Peter solemnly nodded, “For good.”“Understood, Remus.” James said, standing up from his seat and following Peter back inside the pub.Remus finished his cigarette, stamping it out on the gravel beneath him.“Fucking Sirius Black,” He said, under his breath, “Gonna be the death of me.”-or,The Marauders modern band au in which Sirius is a hot mess, Remus is on the brink of a nervous breakdown, James is the mum friend, and Peter is just along for the ride, frankly.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 13
Kudos: 48





	1. one

Remus paced back and forth across the small courtyard out the back of the pub, the gravel crackling under his feet with every step. The hot ash flicked off of the end of his cigarette and landed on his white sneakers, and he knew he would be pissed off about it later, but as he looked down at it in that moment, he couldn’t be bothered.

“Is he seriously still not here?” He asked no one in particular, taking a drag, “This is un-fucking-believable.”

James sighed, sitting in the corner of the yard on an old deck chair that looked like it was moments away from collapsing beneath him, “It’s Sirius, Re, he always pulls through. Just take a deep breath.”

Remus let out a sardonic laugh before turning to face James, taking a drag, and deeply inhaling the smoke. James sighed again and shook his head.

“I wish you two would just cut all the shit and get along,” James said, ruffling his hair, “It’s taking years off of my life, trying to deal with the pair of you.”

Remus scoffed, “Why don’t you tell him that, he’s the one who can’t manage to turn up to a single gig on time.”

James opened his mouth to respond, but Remus continued.

“And you’d think, the one time that we’re finally on somewhere that’s not your dad’s fucking pub, he’d be able to pull his finger out, but no,” Remus heard James sigh for the third time, but continued, “It’s Sirius’ fucking world, we’re all just taking up space in it.”

James let out one final sigh, and thrust his head back, nearly knocking himself out on the brick wall behind him.

“Everything alright?” Peter said, emerging from the back door, “Moody says he wants us out there in 10.”

Remus took a drag, and inhaled deeply again, trying to contain the burning rage that was bubbling up inside of him.

“Potter, I’m telling you, if he’s not on that stage when we start, he’s out,” Remus said, as both James and Peter solemnly nodded, “For good.”

“Understood, Remus,” James said, standing up from his seat and following Peter back inside the pub.

Remus finished his cigarette, stamping it out on the gravel beneath him.

“Fucking Sirius Black,” He said, under his breath, “Gonna be the death of me.”

He followed the other boys back into the pub, as they crammed into the small bathroom that Moody had given them to use as a dressing room. Peter’s drum kit had already been assembled on the small stage, and James sat in the corner, making final tweaks on the tuning of his cherry red Fender that Sirius had bought him for his 21st. Remus bent down to look at himself in the small, dirty mirror. His hair was messy from the breeze, and the bags under his eyes were an almost sickly shade of purple as a result of his lack of sleep the previous nights.

This gig was everything that Remus had been working for, since the first time he picked up a guitar when he was 9 years old. After his dad had left, his mother had bought him a shitty acoustic guitar from a toy store, probably to try and distract him from the utter shitstorm that was his life. It didn’t achieve that purpose, but it led to him finding a passion for music and everything about it; playing it, listening to it, even writing it. His grandmother had bought him a proper one for his 10th birthday. By the time he was 15, after years of delivering newspapers on his bicycle, washing neighbour’s cars, and sweeping the floors in his mother’s office building, he was able to afford a week's workshop during summer at the Royal Academy of Music, for beginners. It was then that he first played bass, and immediately fell in love with it. His teacher had told him that he was ‘a natural’, and to ‘keep at it’. So, he did.

Remus met James, Peter, and Sirius through his girlfriend when he was 19. He and James connected instantly, despite James’ extremely unsubtle attraction to Lily (he’d practically cheered when Remus told him that they’d decided to just be friends three months later). Peter was always easy to get along with, placid, relaxed, happy to go along with what everyone else wanted. It was Sirius that immediately got under Remus’ skin. He was arrogant, condescending, pretentious; the epitome of an entitled private schoolboy.

Despite this, the four of them formed a band within a week of meeting. James had played guitar since he was little, his dad had paid for him to have lessons, originally wanting him to play piano until James’ teacher told him he ‘didn’t have the attention span, nor the elegance’. Peter and James had been friends since they were in high school, and Remus always thought Peter had learned to play the drums just so he and James would always have a sure thing in common, but he was actually fairly decent.

Sirius’ mum was an upper class British conservative politician, so his family had grown up in the spotlight, and he’d had a childhood framed around strict protocol and etiquette, that he frankly wasn’t cut out for. He, like every child of the upper class, had had piano and voice lessons practically since he could walk and talk. This talent, coupled with an ego the size of the sun, and a penchant for causing trouble, made him the perfect front man.

It had been Sirius that had come up with ‘The Marauders’ as a name, actually. They’d been struggling for a name for weeks, the only thing sticking being Remus’ drunken idea of ‘The Iron Ladies’, which had made James and Sirius laugh, but Peter said he thought it distasteful. Sirius had thrown a bread roll at him. It was when Remus’ mother’s elderly neighbour had come over to the house and complained about the noise coming from the garage (that they’d been using as a makeshift rehearsal space) and yelled something along the lines of ‘you need to clean up your act and get your son and his merry gang of marauders in line’, that Sirius had decided that it was the perfect name, and everyone else was too sick of Peter suggesting ‘The Studs’, that they agreed.

They’d spent the first two years of the band performing in James’ dad’s pub, _Monty’s_ , while writing and recording here and there, when they could afford to rent a studio. Sirius was yet to arrive at any rehearsal, performance, or meeting on time. It drove Remus up the wall. When Mad-Eye Moody happened upon them one night, having been an old workmate of James’ dad, unbeknownst to them all, and asked them to perform in his pub in central London, that Remus knew things were about to change.

 _Mad-Eye Moody’s_ was where everyone started. Having a gig there was a sure-fire way to either kick start a lifetime career or send them plummeting to the bottom of the heap, never to be heard from again. And Remus knew it was all going to be riding on Sirius, and he hated it.

“He’s still not here,” Remus said, swinging the strap of his bass over his shoulder, “I’m going to kill him.”

“Alright, Re, no need to get homicidal,” James said, ruffling his hair again, which Remus thought only made his hair look worse than it already did, “He’ll be here.”

“We’re about to go on stage,” Peter said, looking sheepishly at James, as if he were scared to disagree with him, “He’s cutting it a bit fine,”

“Look, it’ll be fine,” James said, just as the lights went down, signaling that their set was about to begin, “Just extend the intro, he’ll show up, I know it. He wouldn’t do this to me- to us.”

Remus rolled his eyes as they walked out onto the stage, still no sign of Sirius. The pub was packed, more so than Monty’s had ever been. It was just a known thing that the bands that played at Mad-Eye Moody’s had been hand-picked, that you were going to get a good show. The thought of it made Remus’ breath catch in his throat. Every table in the large room was filled, and a small crowd stood near the stage, eager, holding drinks and their phones up high as if they were expecting to obtain the first-ever videos of the next Pink Floyd.

“Alright, Mad-Eye’s!” James spoke into the mic, confident as ever, “How are we feeling tonight?”

A chorus of answers and cheers rippled through the pub.

“Lovely, we hope you’re all having a smashing evening,” James continued, flashing his signature boyish grin, “We are The Marauders, I’m James, this is the lovely Pete behind me, and of course our darling Remus,”

Remus gave an awkward wave to the audience as a few people cheered. Still no Sirius. Peter began the drum intro, and Remus said a silent prayer to anything out there that Sirius was coming.

\+ + +

“Oh, fuck”

Sirius groaned as he gave one last thrust upwards into her, searching for her name in his brain, and feeling a pang of guilt at the thought that he couldn’t remember it. _Olivia, it had to be_ , he thought. She was straddling him in the front seat of his car, his jeans around his ankles and her skirt up around her waist. He kissed her as his orgasm faded, feeling her tongue slipping into his mouth, grazing his teeth in a way that he didn’t find particularly pleasant, so he moved down to her jaw, and the crook of her neck. She moaned deeply as he flicked her dark hair out of the way, accidentally catching a glimpse of the clock behind her.

_7:58_

“Oh, fuck!” He exclaimed, in a very different tone to the one he’d used just a moment ago. The girl, _Sophie, was it?_ looked at him, confused, as he began to soften inside of her, “I’ve got to go, gotta get on stage.”

The confused look on her face melted into one of fondness, a smile growing, “Music guys are so sexy.”

He gave her a half-hearted smile, “Yeah, thanks,”

She clambered off of him, pulling her skirt down before getting out of the car, as Sirius fumbled to pull up his pants and buckle his jeans.

“You’ll call me, right?” She asked, tousling her hair.

Sirius reached over the backseat to grab his shirt, and jumped out of the car, pulling it on as he walked. “Er, yeah, definitely,” He called out as he ran from the parking lot toward the back entrance into the pub.

He remembered as he was running that he definitely didn’t have her number, which made him feel like a prize asshole for about 30 seconds, but he shook the feeling away, trying to get in the zone for his performance.

He left his shirt unbuttoned and didn’t have enough time to fix his hair as he heard Peter’s drum intro starting as he stumbled through the back entrance.

“Oh fuck,” He muttered, “Fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck,”

He gave himself a micro-second’s worth of a once-over in the mirror, before taking a deep breath as he climbed up the stairs onto the stage, right on cue.

_What is the name to call  
For a different kind of girl  
Who knows the feelings,  
But never the words?_

He sang, relaxing as the atmosphere of the crowded pub washed over him. He looked over to James, who gave him a curt nod, which told him that he was in for a lecture once the show was over. He couldn’t bare to look at Remus, because the bassline was driving the song so much that Sirius knew he was absolutely seething.

_To look at you, and never speak  
Is so good for me tonight  
To look at you, and never speak  
Is so good for me tonight_

Sirius let the music carry him away from his thoughts, his hand relaxing around the microphone, his hips swaying to the rhythm. His voice sounded raspier than normal, which was probably a consequence of his pre-show warmup, but the audience seemed to be enjoying it. One girl in particular, with smooth, deep skin, and flicks of metallic blue eyeliner that caught the light when she moved caught his eye, before scanning his body, her eyes trailing down from his mouth down his chest to the top of his jeans.

_What is the name to call  
For a different kind of girl  
Who knows the feelings  
But never the words?_

Sirius’ volume increased as they reached the hook, the attention spurring him on. He kept eye contact with the girl, bending his knees slightly and thrusting his head backward. He saw James crack a smile out of the corner of his eye as the guitar took control of the song.

The more that Sirius got into the music, rolling his body and, at one point, removing his shirt (which he’ll tell Remus was because he was sweaty under the bright lights, but they’ll all know it’s because he loves the reaction he gets), the more the audience got into their performance, cheering after every song. Even the rest of the band seemed to be playing more enthusiastically than they ever had, James walking to the very edge of the stage every time he had a solo, and winking at girls in the audience, Peter adding new fills and actually catching his drum sticks when he threw them into the air after a song (they usually fell on his face, once accidentally poking him in the eye – James had to take him to the ER). Even Remus was improvising a lot more than he usually did, his hair sweaty and sticking to his forehead as his fingers moved gracefully along the frets, as if he barely had control of them. This was going to be their break, Sirius thought, he could feel it.

\+ + +

“Thank you so much,” Sirius exclaimed, breathless as the last song came to an end, “Everybody give a hand for the lovely Pete Pettigrew on the drums,” Peter gave a small solo, before throwing his sticks in the air and catching them for the second time in one night, which was entirely unprecedented, as the crowd gave a cheer, “And the sexy bastard himself, James Potter on the guitar,” James flipped Sirius off and gave a mockingly dramatic bow to the crowd as they cheered, “And of course the gorgeous Remus Lupin on the bass,” Remus gave a shy wave as the crowd cheered, louder than they had for the other two, Sirius thought, “I’m Sirius Black, we are The Marauders, and we hope you have a good night, thank you!”

The crowd cheered, various people thumping the bottom of their schooners on the tables as the band walked off the stage, an air of euphoria surrounding them.

But not Remus.

“You’re on thin fucking ice, Black,” He said, as they walked out into the courtyard, “You’re lucky you showed up when you did, or I might’ve clocked you,”

Sirius let out a frustrated sigh, “Well, I’m here, aren’t I? So, it doesn’t matter, Lupin,” He said as he pulled a cigarette and his lighter out of his back pocket.

Remus pinched his temple, “It does matter, because you can’t get your fucking shit together, and we’re the ones that are gonna cop it,”

James and Peter stood against the brick wall, listening and trying to stay out of it. This wasn’t their first rodeo.

“Oh, spare me, Remus, that was the best show we’ve ever done,” Sirius said, taking a drag.

“That’s irrelevant,” Remus said, folding his arms across his chest, “You’re not committed. And if you can’t dedicate yourself to the band in the same way that everyone else here has, then you won’t be a part of it any longer.”

Sirius flicked his cigarette, looking up at Remus with an expression of pure, uninhibited anger on his face, “Fuck you, I’m just as committed as anyone, and you’d never kick me out, and you know it, do you know what you’d be without me?”

“A band that starts their performances on time,” Remus muttered, knowing that it was only going to make Sirius angrier, which it did.

“Alright, Remus, if you’re going to be a prick, do you know where I was just now, before the show?” Sirius said, moving closer to Remus, and sensing James sighing behind him, “I was mid-shag, which I’m sure you’re not unfamiliar with, seeing as you seem to have had a metal rod shoved firmly up your arse your entire life.”

Remus seethed, rolling his eyes at Sirius, “Oh, up yours, Sirius, you can suck my dick,”

Sirius scoffed, “Fine, no one else ever does,”

Remus launched at Sirius as if he were going to throw a punch, but James caught him just in time.

“Settle down, Re,” He said, as Sirius chuckled behind him, only making Remus angrier, “We don’t start fights with fellow bandmates, alright?”

Remus grunted in annoyance as he walked away from the both of them, standing next to Peter against the wall.


	2. two

At some point in the hysteria that followed their near-perfect performance at Moody’s, James had announced to the entire pub that the band would be kicking on at his and Peter’s apartment, and thus, within the hour, there were about 70 people stumbling about in the small flat, flooding out onto the terrace, crammed into the kitchen, sitting on top of one another on the dining table. It was perfect, apart from the fact that Remus couldn’t stop himself from stewing in what Sirius had said to him.

Granted, he hadn’t dated anyone seriously since he and Lily had broken up, but they were really kidding themselves from the start with that, and they’d laughed about it since then. He’d had a few one night stands here and there, but it just wasn’t really his thing, he always left feeling shit about himself. He had always found sex a thousand times better when it was with someone he cared about, that is was just as much an emotional act as a physical one; which Sirius had always mocked, saying that – “if you’re going to be in a rock band, Remus, you shouldn’t act like such a sop all the time”.

Sirius was the complete opposite of Remus, in more ways than one, he viewed sex simply as physical, an act of fulfilment of his own needs, rather than anything to do with a genuine connection between two people. Remus had always thought that probably Sirius was just less secure being alone in his own company than Remus was.

This wasn’t to say that Remus was some kind of prudish blushing virgin, _waiting for the right person_ , he just wasn’t the type to fuck the first thing that looked at him sideways.

“Alright, darling?” Lily’s voice cut through his thoughts, “Fancy a bevvy?”

Remus smiled up at her as she handed him a beer before slumping down next to him on the sofa.

“Great show tonight,” She continued, “Best I’ve ever heard you all play.”

“Thanks, Lil,” Remus said, smiling.

“Something getting you down?” She asked, taking a sip from the can of cider she was holding.

Remus shook his head, not wanting to get into a discussion of his thoughts and feelings, “Nah, just a bit worn out, I reckon,” He said, “Been a long day,”

“James said you and Sirius were arguing again,” Lily said, quietly, as if she were trying to say it without Remus hearing.

Remus gave a frustrated sigh, “We always argue, it’s not a big deal,” He said, shortly.

“Alright, no need to get your knickers in a twist,” Lily said, throwing her hands up in the air dramatically, “I’m just repeating what James told me,”

“Since when do you and James chat, anyway?” Remus said, trying to divert the conversation away from Sirius, “Thought you didn’t like him,”

“He’s not so bad,” Lily said, looking over to the terrace where James was telling a crowd of people a very animated story, “He’s a lot more tolerable when he’s on his own, I think,”

Remus nodded and took a sip from his beer, “He’s in love with you, you know that, right?”

“I do,” Lily laughed, “He’s not the most subtle,”

Remus smiled, taking another sip, “Reckon I need a fag, I’ll be back in a minute,”

Lily nodded, standing up and giving Remus a hand as he pulled himself off the couch.

Remus looked out onto the terrace, but it was packed with people congregating to listen to whatever story James was telling, so he elected to go downstairs and smoke outside for a bit. As he walked down the hallway of the flat, he noticed Sirius flirting with some girl that had been at the pub, stood extremely close in front of her, his arm directly over her shoulder with his hand pressed against the wall behind her, his signature ‘chat-up’ pose, Remus thought, almost letting out a laugh. The girl he was talking to looked at Remus as he walked past, and Remus gave her a shy smile.

Remus stood against the mailbox of James and Peter’s block of flats, pulling a carton of cigarettes and his lighter out of his back pocket. As he lit his cigarette, thoughts began to spiral in his mind about what it would be like if they were to make it – what if this were their big break? What would that look like? Given, Remus had never really had any other ambition than to make music, so it would be a dream, but he’d also never expected to get his way into the industry riding on the talent of somebody he couldn’t stand. Remus thought sometimes that Sirius got under his skin so much because everything seemed to come so easily to him – from singing to performing to schmoozing pub and studio owners to hooking up with practically every girl that ever looked at him. Then, he also supposed that now Sirius had the ethereal allure that came with being the front man of a rock band.

“Got a light?”, a voice interrupted Remus’ thoughts, again.

He turned to see the girl that Sirius had just been chatting up in the hallway looking up at him.

“Er, yeah,” He said, fumbling for his lighter, before handing it to her as she pulled a cigarette out of a small black leather bag she had swung over her shoulder.

“Cheers,” She said, lighting the cigarette, “You’re the bass player, aren’t ya?”

Remus smiled and nodded.

“Proper decent, you were,” She said, flicking the end of her cigarette, “Lead singer’s a bit of a twat, though,”

Remus let out a laugh involuntarily, “He can be,”

She smiled, and Remus felt there was something almost hypnotic about her. Her eyes, he supposed, they were big, almost too big for her small face, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from them. Her blue, metallic eyeliner glittered in the moonlight, drawing even more attention to them. She was dressed in a short blue silk dress, but it was the ripped black stockings and big, worn-out Doc Martens she was wearing that pleased Remus the most.

“I’m Mary,” She said, reaching her hand out for Remus to shake.

“Remus,” He replied, shaking her small hand, noticing a small tattoo reading ‘ _Blame It On The Government’_ on the inside of her wrist, making him smile.

“So, what’re you doing out here on your own on your big night?” She asked, taking a drag.

“Bit crowded for me in there,” Remus said, putting his hands in his pockets, “Not much of a party person,”

Mary nodded, “You the brains of the operation, then?”

Remus let out a surprised laugh, “What makes you say that?”

“Well, your drummer’s had his head in the toilet for the last hour, and your guitarist is practically swinging off the ceiling lights trying to impress the redhead,” She said, as Remus chuckled along, “And don’t even get me started on Sirius,”

“What’d he say?” Remus asked, intrigued.

“Nothing terrible,” She said, smiling at Remus, “I can just tell he thinks his prick’s made of gold,”

Remus let out a loud laugh, which made Mary smile. She folded her arms across her chest, rubbing her upper arms.

“Are you cold?” Remus asked, finishing off his cigarette, “Wanna head back up?”

“I reckon,” She said.

The pair of them walked back up the stairs, entering the flat to see Sirius had already moved on to chatting up some other blonde girl. Remus looked over to Mary, who shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“You live here?” She asked Remus as they walked into the kitchen to fetch another drink.

“Nah,” He said, “I’m living on my own a few streets away, this is just James and Pete’s place,”

She nodded, taking a sip of the beer that Remus had just handed her.

“Interesting,” She said, giving Remus a look that left none of her intentions to the imagination.

Remus flushed. A small, nasty part of him felt a surge of pride at the thought of going home with someone that Sirius Black hadn’t been able to seduce.

\+ + +

“Oi, Sirius?” Lily called out, finally giving Sirius an excuse to leave the mind-numbingly dull conversation he was having with _Jasmine? Nicole? –_ he really needed to start paying attention when people told him their names, he thought.

“Yeah?” He said, practically leaping off of the sofa, “What’s up?”

“Have you seen James?” Lily asked, and Sirius noticed a tall, greasy-looking bloke lurking behind her.

“Nah,” Sirius said, “Think he’s trying to get Pete sobered up.”

“Oh,” Lily said, looking slightly disappointed, “Well, I guess you’ll do,”

“I’m not gonna shag you, Evans,” Sirius said, and he noticed the man behind her furrow his brow, “James’ll chop off my bollocks,”

Lily flushed, and gave Sirius a playful shove, causing him to laugh.

“Not for that, you prick, I just want to introduce you to my friend, Sev,” Lily said, gesturing to the man standing behind her, “He’s just stopped by, we were neighbours when I was young, but he works for Ministry Records now,”

Sirius immediately straightened up, trying to make himself appear professional, reaching out his hand for the man to shake, “Sirius Black, nice to meet you,” he said, pronouncing every word with excruciating effort.

“Severus Snape, likewise,”, the man said, but the look on his face told Sirius that he’d rather shit in his hands and clap than speak to Sirius for a moment longer.

“So, did you get to see the show tonight?” Sirius said, smiling, hoping desperately that either James or Remus would suddenly appear. He wasn’t usually one for small talk.

“Yeah, it was decent, I s’pose,” Severus said, not making eye contact with Sirius.

“That’s not what you were saying a moment ago,” Lily said, “You were saying you might be able to get them a meeting!”

“Really? Fuck off!” Sirius spat out, not being able to control himself, and Severus looked at him with such disdain he was almost reminded of his parents. Shaking away the thought, he continued, “Sorry, I mean, actually?”

“I might be able to arrange it,” He said, in an overly posh voice, as if he were trying to make Sirius feel inferior, “Albus is a friend of Moody’s, he usually trusts his taste.”

Sirius felt a sensation of utter euphoria wash over him, like everything they’d been working toward for the last two years was finally beginning to mean something. The Marauders could be something real, something tangible.

“That would be amazing,” Sirius said, feeling his smile grow to a point where he thought he probably looked a bit psychopathic, “Do you need a number for one of us or something?”

Severus scoffed, “Well, I don’t know how you’d expect me to contact you without one,” he said, condescendingly.

Sirius fought the urge to bite back, “Right, sorry,” he said, before scrambling to find a piece of paper to write his number on. When he did, he handed it to Severus, who gave him a curt nod.

“I’ll contact you when I’ve got something set up,” He said.

“Great, thank you so much,” Sirius said, reaching his hand out.

Severus shook it, “I would’ve thought you’d already had an in with Ministry.”

Sirius looked at him, confused, “Why’d you think that?”

“You know, with-“ Severus paused, looking at Sirius, and a hint of a smile crept onto his face, the sight of which made Sirius feel slightly uneasy, “Never mind, I’ll contact you. I’d better go, Lily, I’ll see you soon,”

As he walked out of the flat, James emerged from the bathroom.

“James! James!” Sirius shouted, completely forgetting the odd interaction he’d just had, “Oh, you’re going to love me!”

“What?” James asked, “Did you find the shot glasses? Thank god, I’m mighty sick of having to use that stodgy medicine cup-“

“Shut up,” Sirius said, interrupting James’ ramblings, “We’re going to have a meeting with Ministry Records!” he exclaimed, beaming.

“Fuck off,” James said, “You’re pulling my leg,”

Sirius shook his head, and then drew a cross over his heart, “Cross my heart, I’m not fibbing,”

“Fuck off!” James yelled, barrelling over to Sirius and hugging him so tightly that Sirius thought he might pop a rib out of place, “How’d you manage it?” He asked, finally letting Sirius out of his grip.

“It was Lily’s mate, actually,” Sirius said, putting his arm around Lily, who was still standing just behind him, “All the connections, this one,”

“Not Slimy Sev?” James asked, causing Lily to roll her eyes, “Can’t stand that prat, though I guess if he’s our way in, he’s our way in,”

“’Twas written in the stars, Potter,” Sirius said.

“Where’s Remus?” James asked, “Does he know?”

“No, actually, I haven’t seen him,” Sirius said, looking over to Lily, “Do you know where Remus went?”

“Think he popped off with that girl you were talking to earlier,” Lily said, smirking, “Saw them come up from having a smoke and then walk off together,”

“Snakey bastard,” Sirius said, folding his arms across his chest, “Who’d have thought?”

James smacked Sirius on the shoulder, “Don’t be a cockhead,”

\+ + +

Remus left a trail of kisses along Mary’s inner thigh, as he heard his phone start to ring.

“Sirius is ringing you,” Mary said, breathlessly, as Remus’ fingers crept underneath the edge of her underwear, “Do you want to answer?”

Remus sighed, “Nah, he’s probably just plastered,”

The phone rang again.

“Maybe you should, it’s been ringing for a while,” She said, as Remus swung her leg over his shoulder, “As much as I’d rather you didn’t,”

Remus smiled up at her, gently placing her leg back down on the bed.

“I’m sure it won’t take long, I’ll be back in a minute,” Remus said, picking his phone up off of the bedside table, and walking out of his room into the small kitchen in his flat.

“What, Sirius?” He said, whispering loudly.

“Is that how you answer the phone?” Sirius said, “Most impolite, Lupin,”

Remus sighed, frustratedly, “Have you got something to tell me or not, I’m kind of busy at the moment,”

“I know, I heard,” Sirius said, and Remus could hear the contempt in his voice, “Good for you, Remus, if only I’d poked fun at your prudishness earlier,”

“That’s not-“ Remus started, before restraining himself from starting an argument, “What did you call me for?”

“We’ve got a meeting with Ministry Records, Remus!”, Remus heard James yell through the phone, “We’re gonna be fucking famous!”

Remus’ eyes widened, “Are you for real? Are you fucking with me? I swear to God if this is some sort of prank, I’ll hang both of you from the ceiling fan,”

“It’s not, Lupin, I promise,” Sirius said, “Lily’s mates with some prat that works there, he’s gonna set up a meeting with Albus fucking Dumbledore,”

“Holy fuck!” Remus exclaimed, “Holy FUCK!”

Remus heard James and Sirius laughing over the phone, happily, and excited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed !! thank you for the love on this fic so far, I'm really excited about it !!  
> please leave a comment telling me what you think !!
> 
> stay safe <3


	3. three

“Right, yeah. Alright, see you soon,” James said, hanging up the phone and putting it back in his pocket, “He’s on the way,”

Remus rolled his eyes, taking a drag of his cigarette, “It’s almost comical at this point,” he said, watching as James and Peter gave each other a look that he couldn’t quite decipher.

“He said he was sorry, and he was getting in a taxi, so he’s really not that late,” James said, trying to diffuse Remus’ annoyance, as he always did.

To be fair, the meeting at Ministry wasn’t for another 15 minutes, so Sirius _technically_ wasn’t late, but Remus, James, and Peter had all made the effort to be there early, obviously placing more importance on the event than Sirius was. _Typical_ , Remus thought.

“Why don’t you and Pete head in and let them know we’re here, and I’ll wait out here for him,” James suggested, as Remus stubbed out his cigarette.

“Alright,” Remus said, turning away from James and walking through the huge glass doors leading into the Ministry Records head office, with Peter trailing just behind him.

The lobby was already bustling, the sounds of phones ringing, frantic typing, and people coming in and out of the elevator filling up the large room. Remus had never seen a building so extravagant, yet so minimalistic at the same time. Every surface was either made of glass or shiny stainless steel, and every person working there was absolutely dressed to the nines. Remus felt a small pang of self-consciousness looking down at his baggy jeans and thin cotton jumper, but then he supposed it would’ve been misleading for him to turn up in anything else because he honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d worn anything much different.

“Hiya, we’re here for a meeting with Dumbledore,” Peter said, smiling at the receptionist, who was looking at him as though every word he spoke was taking time away that she’d never get back.

“Name?” She asked, not even bothering to look up from her computer screen.

“Er, The Marauders? I’m not sure what name you-“

“Someone will come and find you when he’s ready, just take a seat in the waiting area,” She interrupted, still not looking up at them.

“Christ,” Peter muttered to Remus under his breath as they walked over to the nearest seat available, “She definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,”

Remus let out a soft chuckle, “Not everyone is always as cheerful as you are on a Monday morning, Pete,”

\+ + +

James paced along the footpath in front of Ministry Records, feeling the minutes trickle by as he waited for Sirius to make his entrance. As more and more time passed, he could feel his anxiety rising, and tried to concentrate on taking deep breaths. He’d been best friends with Sirius since high school, and he knew he somehow always managed to pulled through in the end, no matter how fine he cut it. James was mainly nervous because he knew how important this meeting was to everyone, especially to Remus. He said a silent prayer in his mind that Sirius understood that as well, that he wasn’t just treating this like any other day, where he could just saunter in anytime he pleased and the biggest consequence he’d face would be Remus giving him attitude for half an hour.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” James heard a voice call out from just up the block.

He turned to see Sirius running full-pelt down the busy London street, nearly bowling over several innocent pedestrians. If it were anybody else, James thought, they’d look like an utter fool, but somehow Sirius seemed to make everything he did look graceful, even sprinting in a leather jacket.

“I’m sorry,” Sirius repeated as he arrived in front of James, out of breath.

“Did you run all the way here?” James asked, suppressing a laugh.

“No, I got a taxi from Roy’s, but the traffic was backed up like you wouldn’t believe. Thought I wouldn’t make it, so I just hopped out and legged it,” Sirius said, still catching his breath.

“Roy? Who- oh, you’ve got to be fucking with me!” James said, giving Sirius a playful shove, “I thought you pied Lockhart off months ago!”

“I did,” Sirius shrugged and gave James a sheepish look, “But I needed an ego boost after Remus snaked me the other night, and all he does is tell me how amazing I am,”

James made a fake gag noise, causing Sirius to give him a slap around the back of his head.

“Piss off,” Sirius said, raking a hand through his hair, “You should be grateful I was at his this morning, it’s a lot closer to here than my place,”

“Still,” James said, as they began walking toward the glass doors, “He’s revolting,”

“He’s not so bad when he’s not talking,” Sirius said, giving James a wink, causing him to pretend to vomit again.

As they entered the lobby, the first thing Sirius noticed was the huge TV screen hung directly above the receptionist desk, broadcasting the news.

“Well, that’s a bad fucking omen,” Sirius said, as none other than his mother appeared on the screen, promoting whatever right-wing policy she’d been trying to push through parliament for the last six months. Thankfully, the sound had been turned off, but the fact that Sirius had managed to walk into the building just as her segment was on was nearly enough to make him walk right back out of the building.

“C’mon, Sirius, that’s just an unfortunate coincidence,” James said, placing a comforting hand on Sirius’ shoulder, “Besides, she seems to always be on the news. If it was a rare occurrence, then maybe it’d be an omen, but this barely constitutes a knock on wood.”

Sirius smiled, always thankful for James' ability to diffuse, having dealt with Sirius’ tenuous relationship with his frightful family for years now. Sirius took one last glance at the television, looking directly at the person that had hamstrung him for so many years, and reminding himself that she didn’t have any power over him anymore, despite how naïve that sentiment may be.

“Are you The Marauders?” A small, thin woman with sharp cheekbones and a dark brown bob haircut asked, practically appearing out of nowhere behind James as they sat down near Peter and Remus.

“Yes, hello, I’m James,” James said, giving the lady his most charming smile, and extending his hand to her, “This is Remus, Peter, and Sirius,” He continued, gesturing to the other three boys.

“Nice to meet you all, I’m Alice,” The woman said, giving all of them a warm smile, “If you’d like to follow me, I’ll bring you up to Albus’ office.”

James and Peter stood up and began following her, James already chatting like he’d known her for years. Sirius lingered behind a bit, waiting as Remus remained in his seat.

“You alright?” Sirius asked, watching as Remus took a deep breath.

“Yeah,” He said, standing up from his seat, “Just feels all really real, all of a sudden,”

Sirius nodded, “That’s a good thing, though, isn’t it?” He asked, as they started walking, only a few steps behind the others.

“I s’pose,” Remus said, looking down at the floor as he walked, “It’s just one of those moments, you know, when you feel like everything’s about to change. I’m not so good with change, I don’t think.”

Sirius nodded, not sure what to say. Remus didn’t usually talk this much to him, although he was sometimes prone to nervous babbling, Sirius thought, that must be the reason.

“Well, how about this,” Sirius said, throwing his arm around Remus, “Even if everything changes, I promise to never stop driving you up the wall, eh? That’s one thing you can count on staying the same.”

Remus laughed, making Sirius smile, “You know, maybe that’s the one thing I could cope with changing,”

Sirius laughed, giving Remus a jovial slap on the shoulder as they followed Peter, James, and Alice into the elevator.

\+ + +

Albus Dumbledore’s office was completely different from the rest of the building. As Remus entered the room it almost felt as if he’d traveled back in time, the contrast between the ultra-modern elevator and exterior offices to the deep-coloured hardwood floors, stacks of records on shelves that looked like they were hanging by a thread, and faded posters from concerts that had taken place before Remus was even born. Remus thought he much preferred it; he felt much more comfortable sitting on the worn leather couch than he had on the uncomfortable metal stools they had in the lobby.

“Albus will be with you in a moment,” Alice said, as the four boys squashed onto the sofa, “If you need anything, just call out, I’m only down the hall,”

She gave them all a warm smile before walking out of the office and closing the door behind her.

“Blimey,” Peter said, nervously tapping his hands on his legs, “I already feel intimidated and he’s not even in the room yet,”

Sirius laughed, swinging his right leg over his left, and relaxing into the right side of the couch, his knees pressing against Remus’, “Pete, you’re intimidated by everything,”

“Well, how could you not be?” Peter continued, gesturing to the room around them.

“We wouldn’t be here if he weren’t interested,” James said, “This really could be our big break, lads.”

“Don’t jinx it, Potter,” Remus said, just as the door swung open, and he immediately felt his chest tighten.

Albus Dumbledore practically glided in, dressed in what Remus could only describe as some sort of fancy purple silk dressing robe, draped over a floral printed three-piece suit. His long grey hair was swept back into a long plait that hung down his back, and his beard, which was almost equal in length, was tied into a loose ponytail below his chin. He had half-rim glasses that were slightly pink in colour perched on the end of his nose, and Remus couldn’t tell if he looked insanely cool or just insane.

“Lovely to make your acquaintance, gentlemen,” He spoke, his voice somehow soft and assertive at the same time.

“We’d just like to say how much we appreciate you meeting with us,” James said, as Dumbledore shook all of their hands before sitting at the desk, “We know how busy your schedule must be.”

Dumbledore smiled, giving a gentle nod, “You must be James,”

James blinked, “Er, yes, how could you tell?”

“Severus gave me a little introduction,” Dumbledore spoke, and James sunk into his seat slightly, obviously trying to contain his opinion of Snape, “He doesn’t tend to like the friendly ones.”

Sirius let out a scoff, causing Dumbledore to turn to him, “And you must be Sirius,” he spoke, “I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

“All good things I hope,” Sirius said, giving Dumbledore a smile that Remus hadn’t seen before. It was almost a grimace, like he felt uncomfortable.

“Of course, of course,” Dumbledore said, a smile still plastered on his face, “And so that must make you Remus and Peter,” he said, gesturing correctly to the other two boys, “So, tell me, what do you envision for yourselves? What’s the goal?”

“Er, well, I think we just want to be able to keep performing, and we’d like to start releasing our originals, too, you know, recording ‘em properly and stuff,” Remus said, as Dumbledore nodded along, listening intently, “Up until now we haven’t really had the facilities to be recording and producing in a way that does justice to our music, so I think that’s the primary goal for us,”

“Right, right,” Dumbledore spoke, still nodding, “So do you all write?”

“Well, Sirius and Remus usually take the lead on writing, but Pete and I contribute every now and then,” James said, a cheerful smile on his face, “Y’know, whenever we have a decent idea,”

Dumbledore chuckled softly, “So you have plenty of originals, then?”

“Well, we’ve been writing since we started, but we’ve never really thought about anything more than just making songs, we haven’t ever worried so much about albums or anything like that,” Sirius said.

“Yes, well, that all comes in time,” Dumbledore said, “And have you been performing a lot?”

“Practically every weekend since we started,” James said, “My dad owns a pub in Camden, so we’ve played there, mostly.”

“Right, Monty’s, is it?” Dumbledore asked, and James nodded, “Lovely, well I often trust Alastor’s tastes, and I’ve heard good things from Severus as well, which is a rarity.”

Sirius scoffed again.

“Alice also showed me a glowing review of your performance in The Independent,” Dumbledore said, causing the four boys to look around at each other, confused, “Of course, I’m not going to sign you on the first meeting, but I’d love to come and watch you perform myself, some time, perhaps I’ll ask Alastor to give you another gig for this Saturday?”

“That would be bloody brilliant,” Remus exclaimed as if the words were coming out of his mouth without his control.

Dumbledore gave another soft chuckle, “Also, if you have any recordings or demos at all, if you could send them through to Severus, he’ll pass them on to me.”

“Definitely,” James said.

Dumbledore nodded, before glancing at the expensive-looking watch on his wrist, “I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’d love to stay and chat with you some more, but I am on a very tight schedule today,” He stood up from his desk, shaking all of their hands again, “I look forward to seeing you perform, it has been a pleasure. Alice will give you any details you need on your way out.”

And he glided out of his office, leaving the four of them sitting stunned on the couch.

“That went well, right?” Peter asked, the first time he’d opened his mouth in the last 15 minutes.

“I think so,” James said, his brow furrowed, “It was quick, though, is that bad?”

“I honestly don’t have a clue,” Remus said, “I usually think I have a good read on people, but I haven’t the foggiest what he thought of us at all,”

“Well, surely he wouldn’t get us another Moody’s gig if he didn’t want to see us, right?” Peter said.

“Who knows,” Sirius said, the first one to stand up from the couch, “Let’s just make sure this performance absolutely blows his robe off, whether he’s taking the piss or not,”

Alice led them out of the office back down to the lobby, handing James contact information as they walked. As the four of them exited the glass doors, they stood still on the pavement for a moment, as if they were in the twilight zone.

“Did anyone know there was an article in The Independent about us?” James asked, breaking the silence.

“No,” Remus said, “I hadn’t seen anything.”

“It’s weird, you’d think someone we know would’ve seen it, or told us about it,” Peter said, as they began walking down the busy street, heading in the direction toward Remus’ flat, which wasn’t far from there.

“Perhaps we just don’t have any friends who read,” Sirius said, and James laughed.

“We can have a look when we get back to mine,” Remus said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading ! please leave a comment telling me what you think :)  
> next chapter shouldn't be too far away <3
> 
> stay safe and happy reading !


	4. four

“Oh, here we are,” James exclaimed, excitedly, squinting through his glasses at Remus’ computer, “Oh, we’re ‘one to watch’, apparently,”

James had been scrolling through Remus’ computer for the last ten minutes, desperately trying to find the article Dumbledore had mentioned, while Sirius and Remus had sat on Remus’ couch, eagerly waiting for James to read it out. Peter had been fossicking about in Remus’ kitchen, much to his irritation, searching for something to eat, obviously nervous about whatever this random reporter had to say about them.

“Go on then, Potter,” Sirius said, impatiently, “Let’s hear it,”

James dramatically cleared his throat, before beginning to read out the article.

“There’s something ritualistic about watching a band making their debut performance, especially on the almost sacrosanct stage that is Mad-Eye Moody’s. The Marauders introduced themselves this Friday night with bouts of charisma and sex appeal that is essential to a successful debut, no doubt accredited to their magnetic lead singer, Sirius Black.”

Sirius beamed, giving Remus an exaggerated wink and a smirk. Remus rolled his eyes, waiting for James to continue.

“The four-piece exudes an innate likeability, appearing to have the dynamic of any regular group of mates, bantering with each other in both the literal sense and musically. Peter Pettigrew’s steadfast percussion lays a strong foundation for James Potter’s flamboyant guitar solos and Black’s sultry vocals and captivating stage presence.”

Peter’s head poked out from the kitchen, “Steadfast? That’s good, isn’t it?” He asked, nervously eating a packet of crisps from Remus’ pantry. Remus nodded, while James and Sirius high-fived each other, impressed with themselves.

“However,” James continued, “The bassist, Remus Lupin, is the highlight of the group, his breathtakingly effortless skill taking command of the music, and humbly presenting himself as the clear leader.”

Remus blushed, and Sirius gave him a smile, but there was something behind his eyes that Remus couldn’t quite decipher.

“A strong set, laced with intriguing originals and strong covers, The Marauders made a promising entrance onto the scene, leaving an enthusiastic audience eager to see what’s coming next for them.”

“Wow,” James exclaimed, turning away from the computer, “Well, we have whoever wrote that to thank if Dumbledore signs us,”

“Or we could thank my _captivating stage presence,_ ” Sirius said, smirking.

“I think we’d better thank Lupin’s _breathtakingly effortless skill,”_ Peter said, slumping down on the couch next to Remus.

“What a swotty thing to say, honestly,” Sirius grumbled, and Remus rolled his eyes again.

“Does it say there who wrote it?” Remus asked, still flushed from the praise the article had showered him with.

“Er, yeah, let me have a look,” James said, swivelling the chair around, his face nearing the computer as if that would help him see clearer, “Oh, Mary Macdonald, it says.”

Remus’ eyes bulged, and Sirius burst into laughter.

“What?” Peter asked, confused, “Do you know her?”

“No wonder she gave you such a wrap, Remus,” Sirius said, still laughing, “Wonder if she was really talking about your _command_ of the music, or was she referring to the bedroom?”

Remus' skin flushed red again, and he gave Sirius a shove, causing him to almost tumble off of the couch, “Piss off, would you?”

“Oh, _that_ Mary!” James said, “I didn’t know she was a reporter.”

“Did you, Remus?” Sirius said, a nasty tone cutting through his voice, “Surely. Must’ve been why you cut my grass,”

Remus clenched his jaw, “Of course I didn’t know,” He spat, Sirius smirking back at him in a way that made Remus want to hit him, “And I didn’t cut your grass, you prick, she approached me,”

Sirius scoffed, getting agitated, “As if, Lupin,”

“Oh, of course, it would be inconceivable to you that you’re not always everyone’s first choice,” Remus said, standing up from the couch and looking down at Sirius, “Not everyone’s itching to spend the night with someone who talks about nothing but themselves,”

Sirius stared up at him, and opened his mouth, about to speak, before James interrupted him.

“Alright, lads, settle down, we got a bloody good review, what are you arguing for?”

“Did we get a good review because we’re good or because Remus stuck his prick in the reporter?” Sirius said, looking smugly at Remus as if he’d just won.

“Oh, get over it, Sirius,” Remus said, rubbing his temple, “You’re carrying on like I slept with your bloody wife! You were chatting her up for about ten minutes, and I saw you talking to someone else when we left,”

Sirius rolled his eyes and looked away from Remus. James sighed deeply and walked over to Remus’ fridge and pulled out a beer, despite it being still morning. Remus honestly couldn’t blame him.

“I’m going to have a smoke, be back in a minute,” Remus said, already walking out of his flat and heading downstairs.

\+ + +

“What’s up?” A familiar, soft voice spoke into the phone, calming Remus down as he took a drag of his cigarette.

“Hi,” Remus said, inhaling deeply before letting the cloud of smoke surround him, “Sorry to bother you, are you working?”

“It’s alright, I’m on break,” Mary said, “Is everything alright, you sound a bit frazzled,”

Remus chuckled softly, “Nah, just calling to say thank you for the review. It was lovely,”

“Oh, that’s sweet, you didn’t have to call,” She said, and Remus could hear the smile in her voice, “Just doing my job,”

“You didn’t tell me you were a journo,” Remus said, trying not to sound accusatory.

“Well, it didn’t come up,” Mary said, “Why? Is that weird for you?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Remus said, taking another drag, “I just didn’t know about the article. We had a meeting with Dumbledore this morning, and he mentioned it.”

“Dumbledore? No shit! Congrats!” Mary exclaimed suddenly, making Remus laugh, “Can’t believe he read my article, holy fuck.”

Remus laughed again, “It was really nice, I think it helped us get in with him, so thank you.”

“So, what’s got you all worked up?” She asked, softly, “If I just had a meeting with Dumbledore, I’d be doing cartwheels down the street.”

Remus chuckled softly, “It’s nothing, just Sirius giving me a hard time. Said you only gave us a good review because we slept together.” He said the last part softly, not wanting to come across disrespectfully.

“Oh, that’s an absolute load, you know that Remus,” She said, getting more aggravated than he’d ever heard her, “I wrote all my notes while I was watching, way before I even met you, I can send him my bloody notebook if he’d like.”

“I don’t think he actually thinks it, he’s just being a prick,” Remus said, amazed at how quickly he’d come down from the state of utter rage he’d been in up in the apartment, “He’s a child, really,”

“Sounds it,” Mary said, “Thank my lucky stars I ended up in your bed instead of his.”

Remus blushed, “I’m sure if you did he wouldn’t have questioned your integrity as a writer, I don’t think he’s ever been pied off before,”

“Well, I’m honoured to have done the nation that service,” Mary said, and Remus burst into laughter, “His ego needed a good kick in the shins.”

Remus smiled and took a drag, slightly turning to see Sirius coming out of the entrance to his building, a serious look on his face.

“Sorry, I’d better go,” Remus said, “We should go and have a drink some time, though?”

“Sure, Remus, call me whenever, and don’t let Posh Spice get you down,”

Remus laughed, and hung up the phone, slipping it into his pocket. Sirius walked over to him, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans, and his head hanging down slightly. Remus held out the carton of cigarettes, almost comically symbolic of an olive branch, and Sirius took one, a grateful expression on his face.

“James gave me a bit of a roasting,” Sirius said, taking a lighter out from his pocket, “Told me I made an arse of myself,”

“He’s not wrong,” Remus said, taking a drag, and not making eye contact with Sirius, not wanting to get himself worked up again.

“He reckons I can’t cope with not being the star,” Sirius said, earnestly, “Never really realised how much of a brat I can be,”

Remus inhaled deeply, “We all have our things, I s’pose,”

Sirius nodded, “Sorry I was a dick,”

“S’alright,” Remus said, “Been a high-pressure day, everyone’s a bit on edge,”

Sirius shook his head, his brow furrowed, “No, Remus, you don’t have to make excuses for me,” he said, and Remus raised his eyebrows, taken aback, “I know I can be a right twat to you, and this definitely won’t be the last time we argue over stupid shit, but I don’t want you to think that _I_ think that I’m better than you, or anything like that,”

Remus swallowed, nervously. He and Sirius having two conversations that weren’t arguments in one day was getting a bit much for him.

“Well, okay,” Remus said, unsure what response Sirius wanted from him, “James must’ve given you a decent lecture,”

Sirius slightly smiled, but shook his head again, “He did, but that’s not the only reason why I came to talk to you, I hope you know, I know just as well as James does that I acted like a little shit, he didn’t force me to come and apologise,”

Remus nodded, “Okay,”

“I know we don’t always agree, and nearly every chat we have turns into a screaming match,” Sirius said, and Remus chuckled in agreement, “But, this is all getting serious now, and I want you to know that I’m not fucking around, I want this to work, too.”

“Good,” Remus said, smiling, and finally making eye contact with Sirius.

“And I reckon we should write something new, for the next performance,” Sirius continued, taking a drag, and visibly relaxing, “Together.”

“Together?” Remus asked, his eyebrows raised. He and Sirius had never written a song together before, Sirius often just wrote lyrics and handed them over to Remus, or Remus wrote on his own.

“It has to be something special, something new, something that’ll have Dumbledore salivating,” Sirius said, staring off into the distance, as if he were envisioning it, “Our best chance to do that is if we work together, corny as that sounds,”

Remus nodded, finishing his cigarette, “Alright, let’s do it,”

Sirius smiled and reached his hand out for Remus to shake. Remus laughed at the formality of it but went along regardless.

“We’d better head back up,” Sirius said, finishing off his own cigarette, “James’ll think we’re out here having a punch on.”

Remus chuckled and followed Sirius back into the building.

“Oi, Lupin!” A gruff, bellowing voice boomed from the entrance hall just as they were about to head up the stairwell, “Come here, will ya?”

Sirius looked at Remus, confused, and Remus shrugged, walking back out into the hallway. A tall, largely built man stood in the entryway, dressed in faded black jeans and a dark grey jumper. Sirius almost flinched at the sight of him; there was something frightening about the look in his eyes.

“Everything alright, Fen?” Remus asked, fighting the urge to laugh as Sirius moved to stand slightly behind him as if Remus was going to protect him.

“Just reminding you we’re having the building fumigated this week,” Fenrir said, “Lady in 4B had bed bugs,”

“Oh, right, okay,” Remus said, “Is that all?”

Fenrir sighed, angrily, and Remus sensed Sirius tense behind him, “You’ll have to be out of your place for the week,”

“What?” Remus said, “No one told me! Where am I supposed to go?”

Fenrir shrugged, smirking, “Not my problem.”

“It is _your_ problem, you’re the landlord, you’re supposed to give people notice for these things,” Remus said, the back of his neck reddening as his anger rose, “I can’t find somewhere to live just at the drop of a hat,”

“Watch it, Lupin,” Fenrir said, aggressively, and Remus and Sirius shuffled back slightly, “Don’t take that tone with me, I’ve already been lenient with you on rent, don’t make me have to move you on,”

“Are you serious?” Sirius spoke up, taking Remus by surprise, as he stepped in front of him, “Are you threatening him?”

“Who are you?” Fenrir spat, stepping closer to Sirius, and towering over him.

“That’s irrelevant,” Remus said, absorbing some of the confidence Sirius was exuding, “Perhaps I _should_ move on if this is the way you’re going to treat me,”

Fenrir narrowed his eyes, folding his arms over his chest, “Fine. Consider yourself evicted, then. Get your stuff out by the end of the day,” he spat, before storming away from Sirius and Remus, who stood still, with expressions of utter shock plastered on their faces.

“Fuck,” Remus exclaimed, “Fuck! What the fuck did I just do?”

Sirius placed a comforting hand on Remus’ shoulder as he nervously rubbed his temples, “It’s probably best that you get out of this block, he seems like a proper psychopath,” Sirius said, softly, trying to lighten the mood while also being sensitive to Remus.

“That’s all well and good apart from the fact that now I’ve got nowhere to live,” Remus blurted, running his hands through his hair, “And I’ve got to get all my shit out of the flat in one day,”

Sirius sighed, his brow furrowed in thought, “Well, you can stay with me for the time being,” he said, and Remus looked at him with a mixture of confusion and relief, “And I’m sure James can borrow Monty’s truck for the day, and we can help you move everything out, half of it's probably stuff for the band anyway, isn’t it?”

Remus blinked, still in shock, and even further surprised by Sirius’ eagerness to help him out, “Yeah, okay, thank you,” he breathed, not really even taking a moment to think about it.

“It’ll give us a good opportunity to write that song, anyway,” Sirius said, patting Remus gently on the back as they walked back over to the stairwell, Remus still stiff from the whirlwind that was the last 10 minutes.

“Yeah, if we don’t kill each other first,” Remus said matter-of-factly, causing Sirius to let out a surprised laugh, “Are you sure it’s okay for me to stay with you?”

“Absolutely,” Sirius said, as they walked up the stairs, “I’ve got the room, and I wouldn’t force you to sleep on James and Peter’s couch, who knows what’s gone on there.”

“Thank you, Sirius,” Remus said, laughing, “You’re a lifesaver,”

“Well, that’s what friends are for, eh?” Sirius said, “We’d all do the same for each other,”

Remus smiled.

“So, what’s his deal, the landlord?” Sirius asked, and Remus tensed slightly at the mention of him.

“Just a bit of a prick, really,” Remus said, “All landlords are, aren’t they?”

Sirius chuckled, “Yeah, I s’pose. He was bloody frightening though, I thought he was gonna try and have a scrap in the bloody entryway.”

“He’d have creamed us both,” Remus said, and Sirius laughed, “I don’t know, I’ve always just tried my best to stay out of his hair. He helped me out a few months ago, though, when I couldn’t make the rent, but he’s been holding it over my head ever since.”

Sirius nodded, listening intently, “I met him when Lily and I were working at the bar near her university, and I was looking for a place, and he offered me the flat, and he gives it to me at a good rate, so I guess he must think I owe him, or something.”

“Oh, well, that’s no environment you’d want to be in,” Sirius said, “I’d be scared he would break into my room in the middle of the night and rough me up if I were living here.”

Remus scoffed, “He’d never hurt me, I don’t think. He’s always been a bit obsessive about me, though, it’s a bit weird, I s’pose.”

“Why?” Sirius asked, confused.

“Oh, er, we had a, a thing, once,” Remus stammered, quietly. He didn’t usually like to talk about his personal life with Sirius, or with anyone much, for that matter.

“Oh,” Sirius said, his eyes wide, “I didn’t realise you, you know, with guys,”

Remus shrugged, “I don’t really like labels, I guess, I just sort of go with the flow,”

“Right,” Sirius said, nodding, “Me too, I s’pose.”

Remus flicked his head to look at Sirius, surprised, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said, smiling at Remus’ shocked expression, “I’m just usually not as brazen when I’m with guys, I reckon,” He finished, softly.

“I never knew,” Remus said.

“What did you think I was doing with Gilderoy Lockhart?” Sirius asked, and Remus laughed, “I certainly wasn’t hanging out with him for his sparkling personality.”

“Fair enough,” Remus said, “Guess I just never really thought about it,”

Sirius shrugged, “Well, I never knew about you either, so, there you go.”

Remus took a deep breath as they finally reached the door to his flat, “Yeah, there you go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading and i hope ur enjoying !  
> sorry this one's super dialogue-y, i'm trying to get the plot moving a bit !  
> please leave a comment telling me what you think, i love reading them.  
> happy reading !


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait !! this one just kept getting longer so hope that makes up for it !  
> thank you so much for reading and commenting, please keep telling me what you think so far !

Sirius’ flat was almost twice the size of Remus’ old place. Everything in it was probably twice as cool and twice as expensive as well, Remus thought. He’d never been to his place before, they usually met up at either Remus’ or James and Peter’s, considering they only lived a few blocks from each other, so it wouldn’t have made sense to have them all hike to Sirius’. He almost felt bad about dragging his furniture into it, but Sirius had insisted that he simply had to, if for no other reason just to piss off his landlord. Sirius had inherited the flat after his uncle had passed away, just over a year ago. Remus didn’t know much about what had gone down, but from what James had let slip, it had caused a great amount of upset amongst Sirius’ family, despite them not being particularly fond of said uncle.

“Thanks, guys, for helping me move everything,” Remus said, as Sirius closed the door behind them, “Tell your Dad thanks for letting us use the truck, as well, James,”

“Now, you two are not to have a squabble and sack off this living arrangement for at least a week,” James said, dumping the final box of Remus’ things onto the floor of Sirius’ entryway, his face sweaty and slightly red from the physical exertion, “Because if you do, there’s no way on God’s green earth that I’ll be able to continue my short-lived career as a removalist within that timeframe,”

“Oh, call it off, Potter,” Sirius said, “You wasted more energy figuring out how to drive your Dad’s truck than you did carrying anything. Even Peter carried more than you did,”

Peter made a disgruntled sound from where he was strewn across Sirius’ charcoal grey couch, sculling a bottle of water.

“I haven’t driven manual in a while, alright?” James said, getting antsy as Sirius laughed at him, “Forgive me for taking a moment to get myself in order before jetting off around the city with a truck full of furniture,”

“Excuses, excuses,” Sirius said, tutting, as James continued babbling, “The old you would’ve just said ‘fuck it’ and worried about the clutch later. You’ve gotten soft in your old age, Jamie,”

James scoffed, and Remus laughed, knowing that James was just as impulsive and irrational as he was when they first met.

“I’m twenty-two, not ninety, Sirius,” James said, flipping Sirius off, “And I hate when you call me Jamie,”

“I know, that is in fact, why I do it,” Sirius said, a smug grin plastered on his face as James grumbled something and stormed off into the kitchen.

As Peter and James recovered from the marathon that was moving Remus out of his flat, Sirius gave Remus a tour of what was to be his new home for the foreseeable future. The living room was packed with musical instruments, and barely any actual furniture, other than a couch and a TV hung on an exposed brick wall. The centrepiece of the large room was a beautiful Steinway grand piano, which Remus nearly jizzed in his pants at the sight of, before being distracted by about half of a drum kit sat stacked up in the corner of the room. Remus made a gesture to it, and looked over to Sirius, asking a question without saying anything.

“Was an ex-girlfriend’s, back in school when I was at the crest of my teenage arsehole phase, as was James, so we nicked what we could one day when we walked past her house and her garage door was open,” Sirius said, somewhat sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, “Heard someone coming and had to leave the kick and the hi-hats behind,”

Remus let out a noise that was a cross between a giggle and a snort, but he found the story more confusing than funny, really.

The kitchen was just off the living room, and the shelves were alarmingly sparse, with only a few packets of chocolate biscuits, two-minute noodles, tea bags, and bottles of red wine filling out space.

“I order in most nights, you see,” Sirius said, as he noticed Remus’ eyes widen at the sight, “I’m not a bad cook, but I have a rather extreme distaste for washing dishes, so I just couldn’t be arsed,”

Remus nodded, mildly astonished by the concept. He was the type that absolutely despised spending his money on eating out, always scrambling to pull meals together with no matter what bizarre collection of ingredients he had left rattling around in his fridge.

The kitchen led into a hallway, that had been slightly narrowed by Sirius installing shelves to hold his vast record collection; part of which he’d assembled himself, and the rest that he’d inherited with the flat. Remus beamed, and let his eyes roam as they strolled past. Sirius’ room was the first off of the hallway, and Sirius made a comment about the abominable mess it was, simply shutting the door as they walked past, and Remus laughed. There was then a bathroom, and a home office (that Sirius was in the process of changing into a makeshift recording studio, which Remus thought was just about the coolest thing ever), and another bathroom, and finally what would be Remus’ room, right at the end of the hallway, which pleased him, for some reason.

“So, this is you, Lupin,” Sirius said, pushing the door open, and dramatically ushering Remus inside as if he were presenting a newly installed museum exhibit.

The room was huge, Remus thought, or perhaps it was regular-sized, and Remus had just gotten accustomed to a much smaller room at his old flat. There was a huge window looking over a park view, which was much more enticing than the back alleyway his old flat had boasted a view of, and Sirius pointed out the air conditioning, which Remus found immensely thrilling.

“Are you sure you’re okay with it?” Remus asked, somewhat shyly, and Sirius tilted his head, confused, “With me living here? I don’t want to put you out,”

“Don’t be silly, Lupin, it’s fine,” Sirius scoffed and waved his hand at Remus, “Besides, we couldn’t have your big musical brain walking around the streets where anyone could just snatch you up and steal all your brilliant ideas now, could we?”

Sirius was smiling, and Remus felt a strange sensation tugging in the pit of his stomach at his kind words. He willed it away, and simply smiled back, walking out of the room with Sirius to fetch his boxes that they’d dumped in the living area, and starting a menial conversation about what they’d do for dinner that night.

\+ + +

There was something almost endearing about the way Remus’ eyes lit up as he flicked through Sirius’ record collection, Sirius thought. He’d been painstakingly filing through each one since Peter and James had left, declaring they’d come back later that night for dinner as some sort of makeshift housewarming. Every now and then, he’d let out a sound of either deep appreciation (likely at the entire shelf of Bowie and T-Rex records) or confusion (which Sirius was sure was a reaction to the collection of new age orchestral records he’d inherited from Uncle Alphard). A good fifteen minutes later, Remus flopped down on the couch next to Sirius.

“Satisfied?” Sirius asked, not looking up from his laptop.

“Hm?”

“Has my collection taken your fancy, young Lupin, sir?”

“It is quite impressive, I must say, you’ve got a good grasp on the classics, though you could use some more modern stuff,”

“Well, perhaps you’ve struck upon my true motivations for inviting you into my humble abode right there,” Sirius said, raising his eyebrows at Remus, “For the purely selfish reason of enriching my musical knowledge and record collection.”

Remus snorted, which made Sirius let out a soft laugh.

“Is it alright if Mary comes around tonight?” Remus asked, catching Sirius by surprise, “I think Lily wanted to come as well, I think James has been speaking to her about my, er, predicament,”

“Well, sure, that’s fine,” Sirius said, going back to staring at his laptop screen for a moment before continuing, “You don’t have to ask permission to have people here, you know, this is your place too, now.”

Remus looked at him for a moment, an expression cast over his face that Sirius couldn’t quite decode.

“I didn’t think you liked Mary,” Remus said, quietly, as if he were afraid of Sirius’ reaction.

“Don’t really know her, to be fair,” Sirius said, shrugging, “Why? Are you seeing her?”

“Not really, I don’t think, we’ve just been hanging out every now and then,” Remus said, picking at his cuticles.

“Well, she seems nice enough, from the little that I know of her,” Sirius said, looking over to Remus to reassure him that he wasn’t just saying things, he genuinely meant them, “Did you say Lily’s been chatting with James?”

Remus’ expression of nervousness transformed into a smile at the subject change, “Yeah, how about that? Reckon she’s getting close to finally succumbing to his charm,”

“Who’d have thought,” Sirius said, smiling, “Is that awkward for you?”

“Nah,” Remus said, shaking his head, “We’re such good mates now, sometimes I forget we were ever anything more,”

Sirius nodded, and they continued chatting for a while, reminiscing on the days when the band was just getting started, when Remus was still dating Lily. Sirius thought it was probably the longest conversation they’d ever had with just the two of them without descending into some sort of argument.

A few hours later, after Sirius had helped Remus (despite his initial resistance) unpack his things and set up his room, Peter, James, Mary, and Lily arrived for dinner. Sirius had decided it was probably best just to order pizza and open a bottle of wine, and hope for the best.

The night went on quite smoothly, Mary slotting into the group nicely despite Sirius’ initial qualms about her, and she had a lot of knowledge about music, even more so than Remus, Sirius thought, which was quite a feat. Quite a few times, the conversation digressed into just the two of them discussing some avant-garde band that had revolutionised the use of tambourine in bluegrass music, or something obnoxiously alternative along those lines. Lily and James had been talking more between themselves as well, Lily responding to James’ overt flirtations with much less repulsion than she usually did, which left Sirius to primarily converse with Peter. That left Sirius with a sort of melancholic aura around him, the specific cause of which he couldn’t really pinpoint, but he just continued to sip his wine and hope it would fade away eventually.

\+ + +

Three days after Remus had moved in, they’d finally sat down to try and get some writing done. Remus had a Talking Heads record playing on the turntable in the dining room for inspiration, and Sirius had about six notebooks strewn across the table, filled with almost nonsensical phrases he’d scribbled down over the last few months, hoping that he’d one day be able to string them together to form something passable.

They’d been sitting there for a few hours, Remus’ tatty, well-loved acoustic guitar sitting on his lap, and a pencil behind Sirius’ ear (which Remus supposed was purely aesthetic, as all of his lyrics were written in blue pen). They’d come up with a few little melodies and chord progressions here and there, but nothing had been particularly earth-shattering. It was starting to get dark, and Remus could tell that Sirius was beginning to get a little restless, tearing pages from his notebook and scrunching them up into balls and trying to shoot them into the bin in the kitchen, and being monumentally unsuccessful.

“Why don’t we go out for a pint?” Remus blurted as if his mouth had formed the thought rather than his brain.

“But we haven’t come up with anything,” Sirius said, furrowing his brows at Remus.

“Well, nothing’s going to come to us if we keep just sitting here staring at empty pages,” Remus said, moving his guitar from his lap to set it on the table, “If we go out and get pissed we might find some more enticing inspiration,”

It didn’t take much to convince Sirius to go out, really. Within ten minutes, he’d jumped into the shower and was getting ready to leave, while Remus attempted to slightly clean the aftermath of an unsuccessful day of songwriting. Remus could hear Sirius belting Higher Ground in the shower, phrasing the words with grunts and rasp, indicating that he was going more for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers version, which made Remus smile as he walked to his own room to smart himself up.

About four hours later, Remus and Sirius were on what could’ve been their 7th or 8th beverage, and they had run into just about every person they’d ever met anywhere ever. From _three_ of Sirius’ ex-girlfriends at one pub, which they’d left after about 10 minutes of awkward encounters, to one of Remus’ old co-workers and a pack of his mates, who they’d done Jägermeister shots with, which Remus knew he’d regret in the morning, but pushed the thought of it to the back of his mind, to now, where Sirius was chatting enthusiastically to a tall man with curly brown hair as Remus exited the bathroom, feeling a bit lightheaded but in a sort of pleasant way.

He sat himself in a booth and watched as Sirius sauntered away from the man, carrying two glasses of what looked to be lager, over to Remus.

“Who was that?” Remus asked, suppressing a hiccup as he took a sip from the glass Sirius placed in front of him.

“First boy I ever shagged,” Sirius said, taking Remus by surprise and causing him to splutter, and feel a trickle of beer dribbling down his chin.

“Right then,” Remus said, wiping his chin as Sirius laughed at him, “Fond memory?”

“Well, it wasn’t terrible, but obviously it was more memorable to me than it was to him,” Sirius said, and Remus tilted his head in confusion.

“He had absolutely no idea in the world who I was,” Sirius said, his cheeks lightly flushing.

“Really?” Remus said, smiling despite himself.

“Alright, at least pretend to sympathise with me,” Sirius said, which made Remus let out an uncharacteristic giggle, causing Sirius to laugh, “My ego’s going to need a good stroking after that, might need to call Roy again,”

Remus made a fake belching sound, and Sirius clumsily swatted at him from across the table, nearly knocking over his glass.

“Seriously, though,” Remus said, composing himself, “You shouldn’t string Lockhart along just for pity shags, if that’s what you do, even if he is a complete tit,”

Sirius laughed, and Remus thought that if he’d said that to Sirius sober, they probably would’ve had a row.

“I s’pose, though it is nice to have someone that’s always down, you know?” Sirius said, taking a sip from his beer.

“It is,” Remus agreed, “But it’s probably not good for your mental health. Or his, for that matter. He probably thinks you’re proper into him,”

Sirius dramatically shuddered, “Right then, I should sack it off then, that’s put me right off. He would think that, too, he’s a conceited little prick,”

“ _He’s_ conceited?” Remus dared to joke, raising his left eyebrow at Sirius.

“Fuck off,” Sirius said, but there was a smile on his face that made it a lot less menacing than the countless other times he’d said those words to Remus.

Remus looked up at the ceiling as he noticed a light that was flickering, and immediately he felt like all of the alcohol that he’d consumed was sloshing around in his skull, coating his brain and making him feel all fuzzy, and not in a good way.

“Might have to call it a night after this one,” He said, bringing his eyes back to Sirius, blinking furiously to get his eyes back into focus, “Reckon I might chunder if I drink anymore,”

Sirius laughed and simply sculled what was left in his glass, “Come on then, let’s walk it off, we’re not too far from home. Who knew you were such a lightweight?”

Remus scoffed as he got up from the booth, “I am not a lightweight. We’ve been drinking non-stop for the last four hours. Any reasonable person would be feeling a little poorly in my position,”

“And yet here I stand, perfectly fine,” Sirius said, spinning in a circle theatrically, which caused him to trip on the carpet and stumble slightly, making both of them burst into laughter.

When they were back at the flat, Remus was still feeling like he was at the peak of his drunken state, and stumbled into the wrong bathroom, not realising that Sirius was in there cleaning his teeth. Sirius must’ve been decently intoxicated as well because he didn’t notice Remus until he was unzipping his jeans and taking a piss standing right next to him.

“You quite right, there?” Sirius asked as Remus had his head hung back, obviously enjoying the relief after having all that liquid sloshing about in his system for the walk back from the pub. Sirius had taken an emergency slash in a bush just near their block, but Remus had made some comment about manners and decorum that Sirius poked his tongue out at.

“Sorry, your bathroom was closer,” Remus said, finishing what seemed like the world’s longest wee, as Sirius kept his eyes fixated on his toothpaste-filled mouth in the mirror, not wanting to accidentally glance at Remus’ bits.

“Are you alright?” Sirius asked once he’d spat the toothpaste, “You look peaky, and I feel like I can hear your heartbeat,”

“M’fine,” Remus grumbled, scurrying out of the bathroom as if he’d just had an epiphany.

“What is it?” Sirius asked, following Remus out into the living room as he sat himself down at the piano, and began drunkenly fumbling to find whatever chord progression he seemed to be hearing in his mind.

He eventually settled on a set of chords, and began stammering something, searching for a melody, and Sirius watched in awe as Remus’ mind ticked over. He wondered if he’d have found it as mesmerising had he been sober.

“ _Well, I know when you’re around ‘cause I know the sound, I know the sound of your heart,”_ Remus sang, raspy and drunken over the perfect chord progression, before turning back to Sirius with a broad smile on his face, and then scrambling to find a pen and piece of paper to write it down.

“Oh, I like that,” Sirius said excitedly, sitting down next to Remus, as he played the chords again, and Sirius repeated what Remus had just sung.

Remus continued improvising within the key he’d selected as they drunkenly played with melodies and lyrics, laughing at little references they made as they went along.

“ _Can’t believe he forgot your name,”_ Remus vocalised, and Sirius scoffed, “ _Oh baby, won’t you cum again,”_ He continued, and Sirius nodded along, typing whatever Remus said into the Notes app on his phone, in case their hungover minds couldn’t remember this drunken masterpiece in the morning.

“ _You’re so conceited, I said I love you, what does it matter if I lie to you?”_ Sirius belted when Remus transitioned into a slightly different set of chords, signalling a new section. Remus beamed at him, which told him he’d struck upon something good.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s good,” Remus said, his fingers still moving over the keys as if detached from his body, “And then another line like that, and then back into the chorus,”

“ _Well, I know when you’re around ‘cause I know the sound, I know the sound of your heart,”_ Sirius sang, nodding at Remus, “And then another verse?”

“Mm, yeah,” Remus said, and Sirius could see the cogs turning in his brain, before he started singing again, “ _It's not about reciprocation, it's just all about me, a sycophantic, prophetic, Socratic junkie wannabe, and there's so much skin to see, a simple Epicurean philosophy_ ”

The words spilled out of Remus as if his mouth were moving quicker than his brain, and Sirius was absolutely amazed.

“Oh, you absolute wanker, those are so good,” Sirius said, and Remus laughed, continuing to play chords, gesturing for Sirius to continue the verse. Sirius smiled at the thought of how easily things were flowing between them, before racking his brain, waiting for something to come naturally.

“ _Oh, and you say, I’m such a cliché, I can't see the difference in it, either way, we should leave things to protect my mental health, but I might call you when I’m bored and I’m playing with myself,”_

“Self-reflective, I like it,” Remus said, smirking, and Sirius playfully shoved him.

They played around with melodies and rhythms for a while, before Remus began yawning, and Sirius looked over to the clock in the kitchen, seeing that it was just after 3 am. Sirius quickly checked over his Notes to make sure he had everything written down that they’d come up with, so they could go through it in the morning and judge it with sobriety on their side.

“It’s gonna be a good one, I can feel it,” Remus said, and he gently squeezed Sirius’ thigh before he got up from the piano and slowly walked toward his bedroom.

Sirius felt something clench in his stomach, but quickly forced himself to start thinking about something else before he went to his room to have a quiet wank and get to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm thinking i might make a playlist for this fic, considering it's so music centric, so keep an eye out for that.
> 
> the song sirius and remus write at the end is obviously The Sound by The 1975 !! simply because 2015/16 matty healy has the most sirius black vibes ever
> 
> thank u for reading ! stay safe and enjoy !

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed and are excited about this one because I am absolutely thrilled with it so far!  
> Please leave a comment telling me what you think!
> 
> Thank you for reading, and stay safe!
> 
> Work title is 'Love It If We Made It' by The 1975, [the song with the best opening line of all time], and the song The Marauders perform is 'To Look at You' by INXS, or by The Marauders, in this universe.
> 
> [I will be utilising already existing songs for the songs performed by The Marauders, so we'll just have to pretend as if they don't exist in this universe, because I am not a songwriter, and do not wish to attempt it]


End file.
